How to install and run Apache web and MySQL database servers using XAMPP

Posted on November 5, 2008 at 5:48 am

Most beginning web developers are daunted by the thought of having to install and configure Apache web server, mySQL database server and even an FTP host.  Before XAMPP, you will need to run individual installers and having gone this path I can tell it wasn’t an easy task for a newbie.  If you don’t know yet what these programs are, please see my notes below:

  • Apache – open source web server software.  This basically allows you to use your computer as a web host.  If you have this on your computer you can run HTML, PHP, etc over http in your browser. 
  • MySQL is a database server like Oracle and MS SQL 2000.  You can use it in conjunction with a scripting language like PHP to save and retrieve information

XAMPP is a package of these software.  You can get it from this URL:

http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html

There are available downloadable packages for each major OS:

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Get the appropriate distribution for your OS.  Once downloaded, run it to install the software.  To start using the software, double click the file called xampp-control.exe:

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You should see a window similar to the one below:

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The button labels of each module (i.e. service) are either Start or Stop.  If you see “Start” it means the service is currently stopped.  In the example above, Apache is stopped since the button says “Start”.  Click on the “Start” buttons to start the Apache service.  Click the “Admin…” button to access the Admin page:

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You should see your browser open pointing to the local XAMPP page:

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You can play with the links under the Demos to see some interesting applications. Phonebook is one simple application that you can see actual database transactions:

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The web pages are stored in the htdocs folder inside the XAMPP folder.  If you have a folder containing your HTML or PHP project, put them there.  To test if it works, open your browser and type in the URL like below:

http://localhost/[foldername]/filename.htm

Just replace foldername and filename.htm to the actual folder and filename that you have.

I hope this little introduction to XAMPP gets some of you excited to try out more dynamic platforms like PHP.  Unlike ordinary HTML, PHP is more powerful and what you can do with it just depends on your imagination.  Who knows? You might create your very own killer app!

Ben Carigtan writes about web sites, computers, technology and how to get the best out of them.

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One Response to “How to install and run Apache web and MySQL database servers using XAMPP”

  1. Everton M said on : December 11th, 2008 at 9:22 am

    Thank you this works. i am a newbie to xampp.
    Everton M


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